The present invention relates in general to sewing machines and, in particular, to a new and useful sewing machine for joining two overlapping work plies with a minimum of handling.
While stitching down the side seams of trousers, the rear parts of the trousers are sewn to the front parts. During this operation, the borders of the rear trouser parts are folded back. This manner of joining two overlapping work plies is termed a simple or false lap seam.
If trousers without side pockets are sewn, for example womens' slacks, a guiding device may be used such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,547,562 in which fixedly mounted guide parts serve the purpose of guiding the work plies and folding the border of the upper ply. Such guiding devices, however, are unsuitable for stitching down the side seams on trousers with side pockets, since the pocket pouches become caught on the fixed guide parts while sewing the pocket area.
This is why, if trousers with side pockets are to be sewn, a presser foot is provided which is equipped with a resilient guide sole for guiding the folded border of the overlapping rear part of the trousers, which sole can yield during sewing of the pocket area. While using such a presser foot, however, the operator must hold the trouser parts manually against the guide sole during the entire sewing operation, to obtain a seam parallel to the edges of the trouser parts. Since the rear part of the trousers is always sewn onto the front part, the operation must be effected in alternate directions, namely the left-hand trouser parts must be sewn from the waist to the hem and the right-hand trouser parts from the hem to the waist. This requires different stacking of the trouser parts or additional handling for turning the parts prior to assembly. Further, for reasons of manipulation, sewing from the hem to the waist is less expedient than in the opposite direction.